Green Bay Packers tackle Marshall Newhouse (74) sits on the bench during last season's Thanksgiving Day game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit. File/Press-Gazette Media

Written by

It’s been almost a given all offseason that tackle Marshall Newhouse wouldn’t be back with the Green Bay Packers. Now it’s official.

Newhouse today signed with the Cincinnati Bengals. No terms of the contract were available.

Newhouse, 25, started 31 games for the Packers in the last three seasons combined, including 26 at left tackle in 2011 and 2012. But last year, the team moved Bryan Bulaga to replace him as the starter at left tackle, and after Bulaga sustained a season-ending knee injury in training camp, rookie David Bakhtiari beat out Newhouse and held the job all year.

This offseason, the Packers decided to move on from Newhouse, who appeared to regress from a player who’d shown promise earlier in his career. Former first round draft pick Derek Sherrod’s return late last season after nearly a two-year recovery from a broken lower leg is among the factors that made Newhouse expendable. The Packers selected Newhouse in the fifth round of the 2010 draft.

At the scouting combine, coach Mike McCarthy strongly suggested that Bakhtiari will stay at left tackle and Bulaga will move back to right tackle, where he played his first three years in the NFL.

Sherrod likely will get a shot to compete for one of the starting jobs or be the backup for both. Barclay also plays guard and has worked some at center.

In Cincinnati, Newhouse will be reunited with quarterback Andy Dalton, who was a teammate in college at TCU.

“Marshall has played a lot of football for Green Bay. He'll be a quality addition to our line,” Paul Alexander, Bengals assistant head coach/offensive line coach, told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “He's played left tackle and right tackle and has experience in big games.”